With the fortieth anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper, ’tis the season to knock some idols off their pedestals. The Guardian asked a bunch of musicians to “nominate the supposedly great records they’d gladly never hear again,” and they came up with some fantastic quotes.
These days, well, it’s my contention that it represents the death of the Beatles as a rock’n’roll band and the birth of them as music hall, which is hardly a victory. The main problem with Sgt Pepper is Sir Paul’s maudlin obsession with his own self-importance and Dickensian misery. (Paul McCartney is the dark one in the Beatles, not John Lennon, because he writes such depressing, scary music.) It’s like a Sunday before school that goes on forever. It’s too dark and twisted for anyone with any light in their life. Then again, when he tries to be upbeat, it rings false – like having a clown in the room.
–Billy Childish on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
In America when you’re growing up, you’re subjected to the Doors as soon as you start going to parties and smoking weed. People think of Jim Morrison as a brilliant rock’n’roll poet, but to me it’s unlistenable. The music meanders, and Morrison was more like a drunk asshole than an intelligent poet.
— The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn on LA Woman
More after the jump…